On 11/11/2018 16:50, RJH wrote:
On 11/11/2018 15:50, newshound wrote:
On 10/11/2018 09:45, Paul Carmichael wrote:
On 09/11/2018 14:51, newshound wrote:

In the old days, a bad pint of Wadworth's 6X was virtually unknown,
because it was produced by a relatively small Somerset brewery and
not shipped very far. Now it is produced by one of the big brewers,
and afficionados do not consider it to be the same thing.

Wow. Parallel threads.

I used to like 6X, but it must have had un unusually short shelf
life. Froma a fresh barrel it was lovely, but too many times it was
quite simply off. So I stopped drinking it.

I sometimes see the "new" stuff, usually as a guest beer, and often
have one for nostalgic reasons. I can't recall having a really bad
one. To me, it's a sign of a good pub if they replace a dodgy pint
without argument.

My problem is when they serve a known dodgy pint in the first place.

I have to agree, but also to recognise that is a very tough business
running a pub in the UK, especially if you are a tenant to a "Pubco". A
lot of people only last a couple of years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0meiY15P8FQ

This is my mate Ken (who also happens to be head brewer at my mate's
brewery). Adequate but not the greatest recording, he's better "live".


For various reasons I visit a chain pub (Wetherspoons) about once a
week. About a third of the cask beer I order is pretty much undrinkable.
They will rarely stop serving it to others once it's been pointed out.

Wetherspoons offer very good prices by driving a hard bargain with the
brewers who, in consequence, may be shifting older beer stocks to them.
I find them good for food and, on the whole, pretty well run. But they
are not quite real pubs, for me.


In a recent visit to London (somewhere just north of the Blackwall
Tunnel) three successive pints were cloudy - 'Is that supposed to be
cloudy? Er, no. Something else then please'. Apart from complaining that
I had 'cost him three pints', he'd kept the pumps open.

Cloudy is usually a yeast haze, personally I don't think I can taste it.
Of course yours could have been completely "off". It's a standing joke
in the pubs that I use that when CAMRA are visiting, you see much
lifting of tweed-clad elbows and muttering about whether the beer is
cloudy or not.


A visit to a brewery is a real eye-opener - I've been to several. Purely
in the interest of science you understand :-)


I never miss the opportunity.The most interesting are the smaller ones,
especially if you can get to chat to the brewer. Some of the youngsters
running microbreweries in pubs are a bit nerdy and try to bull**** you.

I declare an interest, an old mate of mine runs a small brewery, and I
get roped in when they have problems with the electrics.